Thomas DAlessandro
| image = Immagine:DAllesandro.png | header1 = Biographical Information | label1 = | data1 = | header2 = | label2 = Name | data2 = Thomas DAlessandro (59909) | header3 = | label3 = Postion | data3 = Striker | header4 = | label4 = Preferred foot | data4 = Left | header5 = | label5 = First Professional Contract, 17 | data5 = 23/8 2/12/08 | header7 = | label7 = Nationality | data7 = Ireland (Dublin) | header8 = | label8 = Team | data8 = Craggy Island | header9 = Club Record | label9 = | data9 = | header10 = | label10 = Craggy Island U19's | data10 = 33 Appearances/ 26 Goals | header11 = | label11 = Craggy Island | data11 = 19 Appearances/ 8 Goals | header12 = | label12 = Rugged Island | data12 = 20 Appearances/ 29 Goals | header13 = | label13 = Yourface United | data13 = 6 Appearances/ 0 Goals | header17 = International Record | label17 = | data17 = | header18 = | label18 = Ireland | data18 = 0 Caps/ 0 Goals | header19 = | label19 = Irish Under 18 | data19 = 23 Caps/ 6 Goals | header20 = | label20 = Irish Under 21 | data20 = 29 Cap/ 20 Goals | header21 = Trophies | label21 = | data21 = | header22 = | label23 = | data23 = | header24 = | label24 = League Titles | data24 = Irish B-2 Season 8, Irish B-1 Season 11, Kieran McMupp U19 League Season 9, Irish Youth League Season 11 | header25 = | label25 = Cup Titles | data25 = Season 13 }} Thomas DAlessadro (Dublin, 23/8), is an Irish footstar player, who plays for Craggy Island. Born to a Jamaican-Brazilian father and an Irish mother, but kidnapped by an Italian chipper in his first hours, he grew up in the rural setting of Craggy Island. Deployed predominately as a goalscoring striker, he was often used as an attacking midfielder in his youth. Thomas is widely tipped to become a superstar in the footstar world. __TOC__ History Craggy Island (Youth) Thomas DAlessandro broke into the Craggy Island team, as a 17 year old, just as Samuel Entwistle had to retire from the game, he scored on his competitive debut after coming on for the last 20 minutes, with a sweet volley from an acute angle, bringing immediate comparisons to Marco Van Basten. He was part of the team that promoted from the Irish B-2 to the League of Extraordinary Irishmen, but joined up with the newly formed Craggy Island U19 side for the next few seasons where he achieved notable success, that Craggy Island U19 side, with the likes of Thomas DAlessandro, Brian Macrae, Robert Gariballa and Ben Varvel, is viewed as the clubs first golden generation. After turning 20 Thomas DAlessandro focused on learning from Craggy Islands senior strikers, Liam Barigou, Ubaldino Lamaasaarri and Dominik Berg. Soon it became evident he would have to be loaned out if he wanted to play football, a longterm loan deal with Rugged Island followed, as did a short spell with YFU. Rugged Island At the ned of season 11 Thomas joined Rugged Island along with several Craggy Island youths, helping the club achieve promotion to the League of Extraordinary Irishmen, he achieved the highest average rating and was top goalscorer in the Irish B-1 that season. The club got off to a great start in the League of Extraordinary Irishmen securing a 0-0 draw with YFU, who made the Cup Final just weeks earlier, Thomas put in a professional performance, despite being marked by world class centre-back Luke Andrews. That season Thomas went on to score 4 goals for Rugged Island in 11 appearances, announcing his name on the big stage at just 21, his loan ended though as an upcoming season of European football with Craggy Island was calling. Yourface United Initially Thomas had rejected an offer from YFU manager Leo Fear, along with offers from several offers from home and abroad, but just a few weeks into the season 13 Leo Fear resigned and the clubs backers soon followed him along with a handful of players. Daire Priest took it upon himself to rebuild the team and Thomas accepted the offer to help the club in it's time of need, signing a 4 week loan deal. The spell at YFU proved an unhappy one, mostly sat on the bench having started just 1 game from 8, with widely reported unrest within the squad, this unrest was reflected in the teams performances as the club lost 7 and drew 1 of their 8 games. In the last week of his loan deal Thomas DAlessandro vowed that he would never play his football on the main-land again. Craggy Island (Senior) Upon his return to Craggy Island Thomas had now forced his way into the fringes of the first team, at just 22, commonly being favoured ahead of Liam Barigou as the clubs 3rd choice FC, with Conor Scott and Ubaldino Lammaassari being the favoured striker partnership. Thomas scored on his debut in Europe in the last minute against Latvian opposition, and was used mainly as a super sub throughout the remainder of season 13, which included scoring in the penalty shoot-out against Leinster in the cup and the last 30 minutes in a 3-2 victory over Kinsale in the cup final. International Career Thomas is joint most capped Irish U18 international, alongside Rudolph Kapsalakis, winning 23 caps, that said that Irish U18 side generally struggled due to the youth of the team and the obvious lack of experience. Thomas won 29 caps for Irelands U21's, scoring an impressive 20 goals, his first campaign with the U21's started poorly but there was an obvious learning curve as the team beat the Netherlands 1-0, finishing 3rd place in the group, just 1 point behind the Dutch, this was a great achievement as almost all the squad were available for the whole of the next campaign. Thomas caught the eye in many games, scoring 3 goals against Greece, and 1 against the Netherlands during qualification. the next seasons brought another 3rd place finish despite expectations, in general the team performed well but struggled against the Greeks again and could not make the most of their abilities against other sides. The high point that season for Thomas was the final game, where 13 Slovakian users had been wishing him bad luck, only for him to win man of the match and score the goal which cost Slovakia it's place in the World Cup. DAlessandros U21 career ended with a 2-1 win against Australia. Management Career Thomas managed Craggy Island for 3 seasons, helping the club establish itself in the League of Extraordinary Irishmen, as was as bringing a strong youth development ethos to the club, realising the team did not have the immediate resources to challenge the likes of Munster. Thomas has acted as assistant manager for the Irish U18's and U21's, as well as managing the U18's for a short spell, but eventually gave up management, citing personal reasons, Brian Macrae took over the reigns at Craggy Island after being mentored for a season by DAlessandro. Thomas has been acting as an assistant manager at the club since. Trivia -Thomas DAlessandro is a second cousin of former Craggy Island legend Samuel Entwistle as well as having an unexplained connection with Jack Gutierrez- -Believe it or not he is left footed- -He's only been to the mainland once, and he didn't like it!- -Scored on his competitive debut for Craggy Island- -Made his U18 International debut for Ireland at the tender age of 17 years and 27 days against New Zealand, and his U21 debut at 19 years and 83 days, netting 2 goals against Northern Ireland. -Wears his hat backwards, and occasionally sideways- Statistics Club National Team Career Total Individual Honours **Joint Top Scorer in the Kieran McMupp U19 League, season 9, **IFAI U19 Player of the Season, season 9, **Player of the Lyons(U18) Tour, season 9/10, **Top Scorer in the Irish B-1, season 11, **Highest Average Rating in the Irish B-1, season 11, **Rated Irelands 3rd best U21 player (best Irish U21 FC) by FS, season 11. **Rated Irelands 2nd best U21 player (2nd best Irish U21 FC) by FS, season 12. Team Honours **Irish B-2 Season 8, **Kieran McMupp U19 League Season 9, **Irish Youth League Season 11, **Irish B-1 Season 11, **Irish Cup Season 13, External Links Footstar link to the man himself